By Azu Ishiekwene

As US President Donald J. Trump marks his first year in office by expanding his wish list from making Canada the 51st State of America to seizing and renaming the Panama Canal, and now taking Greenland by any means, if he cannot get the Nobel Peace Prize, spare a thought for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The world has been unfair to him.

Hassan Gimba

By the end of 2025, Yobe State stood out as Nigeria’s top state in Primary Health Care (PHC). At the 2025 PHC Leadership Challenge Awards in Abuja, it was recognised as a national leader in healthcare delivery. Yobe was named Best Performing state in the North-East for the second year in a row, after also winning in 2024. Each time, the state received a $500,000 prize.

By Mahmud Isa Yola

On the noon of Saturday, I sat in the cavernous Conference Hall of the National Mosque in Abuja, lost in a sea of faces, listening with keen interest as my boss, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi, connected the dots between insecurity and drug abuse during a Public Lecture organised by Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC.

By HRM Janet Mba-Afolabi

When Dan Agbese Co-founder of Newswatch passed on in November last year,Yakubu Mohammed also Newswatch Co Founder was alive.

‎By Christiana Daniel

‎Nigeria’s fight against illicit drugs has intensified in ways that are impossible to ignore. Across the country, seizures have increased, trafficking routes have been disrupted, and criminal networks have come under sustained pressure. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has been at the centre of this effort, expanding its operational reach and reinforcing the message that drug trafficking carries real consequences. These actions have improved security, reduced the brazenness of drug markets, and reassured many communities that the state is present and alert.

By Bola Bolawole

Erstwhile governor of Ekiti state, Peter Ayodele Fayose, has said only prayers will save Gov. Siminalayi Fubara from impeachment. The Rivers State House of Assembly is making the third attempt to impeach the governor, the first two attempts having floundered on the altar of efforts at political resolution of the rofo-rofo fight between the governor and his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike, who is the immediate past governor of the state and now Minister, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

By Azu Ishiekwene

Frederick Forsyth’s account of the Nigerian Civil War, mainly from the Biafran lens, is perhaps one of the most riveting you would find. Yet, it is remarkably deficient in its one-sidedness, for which the author made no pretences or apologies.

By Chuka Nnabuife | ANCISRO

Across Nigeria, citizens and governments mark Armed Forces and Remembrance Day on Thursday, January 15.

Beyond being a day set aside to honour the men and women who paid the supreme price in the defence of the country, and to reflect on the true cost of peace, unity and sovereignty, the day is one of the most solemn and significant dates in the nation’s calendar but unfortunately, not many citizens know.

By Tunde Akanni

The question is no longer whether Nigerian women are interested in power. The more honest question is whether Nigeria’s political architecture is genuinely prepared for women to exercise power without apology, patronage, or pity. The renewed campaign for increased women’s seats in the legislature has once again exposed the fault lines in our democratic imagination.

By Bolanle Bolawole

A one-time presidential aspirant in the United States was asked, if he loses the primaries, whether he would accept to be the running mate to the victor, but he quipped: “I hate all vices, including the vice-president!”

By Hassan Gimba

"And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient" – Qur’an 2:155

By Micheal Owhoko, Ph.D

Worried and moved by the unending terrorism in Nigeria, I was recently compelled to investigate the menace, using my crystal ball. From the revelation, some high-ranking individuals are fueling the widespread terrorism-induced bloodbath through betrayal and tacit support. And except there is a unified response driven by sincerity, patriotism and unbiasedness, devoid of religious and ethnic prejudices, Nigeria will be brought to its knees by terrorist’s groups with jihadist agenda.